The US has thrown its weight behind a return to commercial whaling if the two decade long ban is lifted as expected in the near future.
The US has proposed a resolution to endorse measures on managing whale hunting. Plans, which are backed by Japan, Iceland and other pro-whaling states include a five-year phase in period when commercial whaling would be allowed but only in coastal waters.
Despite this, the US has moved to remove doubts it had abandoned its traditional anti-whaling stance.
"It is not a shift in the US post commercial whaling. There is no change in that philosophy," said a US Government official.
He said that approval of a whaling management programme would not necessarily lead to the ban being lifted and that if it was the US would 'have to have good strong measures in place'.There is strong opinion among some of the nations that fewer whales would probably be killed as a result of a good management system rather than no regulations at all.
The US has called for the management programme completed and ready for consideration in a year's time.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) itself has urged nations to find more humane methods for killing whales.
